BOOK REVIEW| Daughter of the Moon Goddess - Sue Lynn Tan
Title: Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Series: The Celestial Kingdom Duology
Author: Sue Lynn Tan
Pages: 512
Dates: 21/12/22 - 09/01/23
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Rating: 5/5 stars
I am going to begin this review by stating that I decided to read this book at the wrong time of the year! The reason I say this is because YOU WON'T WANT TO PUT THIS DOWN! If you look at the dates above, you can tell that this book took me a long time to finish; not because I was bored, but because I chose the busiest time of the year to read this. Between Christmas and New Years holidays, I had no choice but to put this book down a few times and sometimes not picking it up for days! The worst part about this was that I would stop reading at crucial or intense parts of the plot that made me itch to pick it back up again. So a little advice, read this when you have time as I can guarantee you will feel the same way about this book as I did.
Synopsis
A little summary of the book (spoiler free)
Daughter of the Moon Goddess is a fantasy retelling inspired by the Mid-Autum Legend and Chinese mythology. This book centres around the protagonist Xingyin, the daughter of the moon goddess who had been exiled from the Celestial Kingdom. The Celestial Royals were unaware of Xingyin's existence as her mother had hidden her from them, in order to protect Xingyin and herself. As danger reaches their front door, Xingyin is forced to flee from home and leave her mother behind.
This book takes you on a wild adventure through the Celestial Kingdom as Xingyin discovers herself whilst fighting her way to the top of the celestial army, with her goal of freeing her mother from exile.
Review
To say that I loved this book is an understatement. I adored everything about this book; from the writing, characters, plot and plot twists!
From the very beginning, I was completely hooked. I have never read a Chinese inspired fantasy novel before! This book has definitely opened my eyes to this genre and has encouraged me to search for more books like this. Will other books compare to this one? who knows! If you have seen the Disney movie Mulan and loved it- then you will enjoy this read too! Daughter of the Moon Goddess gives Mulan vibes and I am living for it!
There are many, many things that I loved about this book, but the highlight for me was definitely the character Xingyin. Xingyin is a fierce, confident and powerful character throughout the book who is extremely courageous to undertake any task thrown at her; no matter how dangerous it is! And this is so refreshing as society perceives women as sensitive and delicate. Sue Lynn Tan has definitely proved that stereotype wrong and shows through Xingyin what women can REALLY do when they put their heart, minds and souls into it!
If you're a lover of romance, love triangles and heartfelt lines of pinning, then this book is for you! To tell you the truth, I'm not a big romance reader. I usually lose interest instantly or get put off by cheesy lines found in most contemporary romance novels.However this book hits different. The romance is elegant, heart aching and just downright beautiful. You can really feel what the characters are feeling and you find yourself pinning for them too! LOL! I have never highlighted or annotated any of my books before, but with this book, I found myself highlighting and annotating throughout! Meaningful lines, quotes and even just scenes that made me want to jump into the book and swoon over Liwei or Wenzhi gave me the urge to highlight *insert laughing emoji here* . This is the book that makes you forget that you're reading. Tan's writing is so coherent, elegant and beautiful that it makes it easy to follow along and envision; bringing the story to life in your mind! The world building is phenomenal; to the point where I want to be an immortal and live in the celestial kingdom!
If this book isn't on your TBR already for this year, I highly recommended heading to Amazon, click add to cart and express delivery. This book is worth bumping up to the top of your 2023 TBR list. I am very excited to get started on the second book and I am hoping it doesn't take me as long to finish as this one did. Although, now that I think of it, I enjoyed how long this took me to finish as I am now sad that its done. I want to turn back time just to read this book for the first time again.
I can't wait to see what you all think of it! And remember, when (not if) you read it, tag me in your post of comment below to let me know what you think!
Let me leave some picture of quotes from the book to entice you even more! (Don't look if you feel it'll spoil too much for you)
Until my next review,
Andrea.
©TheBookAgent
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